Paperchase Christmas in July Showcase

Now, I know that Christmas is still a little way off (OK… a long way off), but as you may know, many of our favourite bigger brands / retailers (like Paperchase) like to reveal their Christmas showcase to media slap bang in the middle of summer, so that we get an early peak at the upcoming festive trends.

When I stepped into the Paperchase ‘Christmas in July’ event last week (at the appropriately named ‘ICETANK’), I found myself genuinely wishing for snow to relief us of the heatwave in London! As I was the first person through the door (I think you call it a ‘keen bean’), I was fortunate to be taken round by Paperchase’s very own Marketing Manager for a whistle-stop tour of the Christmas range.

At the entrance we were urged to ‘unlock our creative spirit this Christmas’, and inside we were presented with a myriad of gift and craft ideas. Highlights for me were the DIY cracker chandelier, which would look great suspended over a dinner table, as well as the mega suspended card wreath (though I would need to make a lot more friends to fill it), both of which you could recreate at home.

#CraftBlogClub Secret Santa 2017

Happy New Year everyone! Better late than never, I wanted to finally share my #CraftBlogClub Secret Santa with you! If you’ve not heard me bang on about this before, the CBC Secret Santa is a brilliant initiative by Fiona and Katie who run the weekly #CraftBlogClub Twitter chat every Tuesday at 8pm.

Each year, anyone with a passion for craft can take part to make and receive a handmade present from the #CraftBlogClub community. Though I haven’t managed to join the chats much lately, my experience of this community is that they’re one of the warmest, most encouraging bunch of people you could ever wish to e-meet. It’s always a pleasure, so do join in if you can!

Somehow this was my third year taking part (where does the time go?!). In Year 1 you might remember that I made a DIY felt cupcake needle-book and cupcake pin-cushion ring for ZoFlo, and last year I made DIY homemade goats milk and honey soaps for Laura, which turned out quite well.

This year, my Secret ‘Santee’ was Naomi Jade. After a little stalk of her blog and social channels, I saw that she was a lover of all things cosy and also quite girly, so I decided to make her a DIY miniature wall hanging. I used a weaving kit that I got for free with a Mollie Makes magazine earlier this year.